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W *ptDp TIN nio T"1^ VlK, t.«., where are thy plagues , 0 death ? where , 0 grave, is thy destruction ? — See by all means, Olearii diss. inaug. on Redemption from hell. In this hymn of victory, where signifies that death and hell were formerly very formid- able : now circumstances are changed, Qdva rog, death , and
tybris, hell [the unseen world beneath], are frequently used pro- miscuously ; but yet they differ, for the one can never be sub- stituted for the other : Hell is in fact opposed to heaven ; deatk ,
to life, and death precedes ; hell is more profound ; death receives the bodies without the souls, hell receives the souls, even without the bodies, not only of the wicked, but also of the godly, and that, before the death of Christ, Gen. xxxvii. 35 ; Luke xvi. 23. Therefore they are mentioned in connection with each other ; and it is said in gradation, death and hell: comp. Rev. xx. 13, 14, vi. 8, i. 17 : and in these passages it is evident, that the word grave cannot be substituted for hell . Furthermore, because the discussion here turns upon the resurrection of the body, there- fore hell is only once named, death often, even in the following verse. — ro x'evrpov, the sting) having a [plague-causing or] pestilen- tial [Heb. u Where are thy plagues ?”] poison. Paul transposes the victory and the sting ; which is more agreeable not only to the gradation of the Hebrew synomyms, but also makes a more convenient transition to the following verse, where sting and strength are kindred terms. A stimulus or goad is a larger xevrpov ; comp. Acts xxvi. 14 ; a sting or prick [aculeus] is a less %'evrpov, sometimes they may be used promiscuously, when we overlook the quantity [i.e., a quantity of less aculei is tantamount to a stimulus or stimuli ] ; we may even kick against the pricks in thorns. — a3/j, 0 hell, [grave, Engl. V.]) It does not here denote the place of eternal punishment, but the receptacle of souls, which are again to be united with their bodies at the resurrection. There is nothing here said now any longer of the devil ; comp. Heb. ii. 14 : because the victory is snatched out of his hands, earlier than out of those of death, ver. 26. — vTkog) lxx. 3/xtj or v'lxri : Paul sweetly repeats vTxog ; comp, the preceding verse. The rarity of the word is well suited to a song of victory .
56. 'H cifAupr'ia, sin) If there were no sin, there could be no death ; comp. Hos. xiii. 12. Against this prick no one could have kicked by his own strength ; no one could have sung that song
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